Florida Education Association President Andy Ford: Digital education can be valuable if correctly used

April 5, 2012|By Andy Ford | Guest columnist

Virtual education has emerged as one of the hot-button issues among education reformers. Jeb Bush's Foundation for Florida's Future is a strong supporter of virtual education and the American Legislative Exchange Council is pushing legislation nationwide that makes virtual education a cheaper alternative to the traditional classroom and one that provides a strong profit opportunity for private businesses.

But how much do we really know about virtual education?

Nationwide, more than a million students are attending virtual classrooms this school year. Most are taking only individual courses to enhance learning in a specific subject, or to obtain additional credits for graduation. But some states have now entrusted virtual providers with students as young as kindergarten age.

Recognizing the huge potential market in virtual education, private virtual and charter education providers have significantly increased their lobbying efforts to gain entry into the business of public education.

Research is lacking as to when virtual education is appropriate or if it has potential to go beyond simply training to more complex levels of curriculum and education.

Learning isn't just about the memorization of facts. Teachers understand — and you probably do as well if you remember your greatest classroom experiences — that discussion, collaboration and working on projects together as a class can have a huge impact on student learning. Students are most engaged when they work in teams and wrestle together with complex topics. Collaborative problem solving, socialization and working with other people are key to getting along in life. That's much more difficult to achieve in an online environment.

Teachers want to guide their students to ask insightful questions, offer well-reasoned opinions, and work diligently until they master content. Those are the types of classroom experiences that unleash students' ingenuity and reveal their understanding of the material. It's not that it's impossible to achieve that in a virtual environment, but it is vastly more difficult and requires all participants to be motivated and involved. In a classroom, a teacher can see when students aren't motivated and participating and can make adjustments. It's harder when the student is miles away on a computer.

That's not to say there is no value in virtual education — just that it's not for everybody. And I fear that in this state, where political leaders frequently use a one-size-fits-all approach to a myriad of education issues, the same thing will happen with virtual education.

Florida's policymakers must address the educational concerns of the shortcomings of virtual education, such as less social interaction, less group or collective learning, less peer engagement and less teacher interaction.

Florida must maintain the high standards for teachers of "cyber classrooms" that are required in traditional classrooms. Teacher workload, working conditions and compensation must be monitored. Virtual teachers should have the same benefits, job security and resources as traditional classroom teachers.

States should conduct regular audits to determine actual costs incurred by entities providing courses and programs that receive state funds. Student-teacher ratios should be closely monitored to ensure an adequate level and the extent of teacher involvement with students.

And how will a teacher know that the student who signed up for the course actually did the assignments and took the tests? Policies must be in place to determine if the student has legitimately participated in coursework, final exams and state assessments before awarding students credit.

Virtual education can be a valuable tool if applied correctly. But my biggest fear is that this rapid and unchecked expansion of virtual schools is merely a vehicle to save money — not to provide our children with a high-quality education.

Andy Ford is the president of the 140,000-member Florida Education Association.